NewsOne Minute: Quick Hits From Around the Web – 3/31/14

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and NFL star Richard Sherman were spotted together at an NCAA game in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday rooting for their favorite team, the Stanford Cardinals. Rice, a professor at the esteemed school since 2009, and Sherman, part of the 2013 Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks and a celebrated alumnus, were seen chatting it up at the game. Sherman tweeted a selfie with the black conservative, adding that there was a “nice crowd” in attendance.

A Philadelphia woman is being hailed as a hero after she came to the aid of a woman and her newborn baby on a train. “I said, ‘Miss, just stay with me and I’ll protect you. I have you covered. Don’t worry,’” Bates, a minister at Resurrection Evangelistic Church, told MyFoxPhilly. “I said Satan, the Lord God, rebuke you in the name of Jesus you will not touch this woman.” Read more.

Apple said it is working to bring more racial diversity to its popular set of cartoon icons known as emoji. The Cupertino, Calif., tech company hopes to update its emoji icons so they are inclusive of more people, Apple said in a response to an email sent from MTV that was sent to Chief Executive Tim Cook. Read more.

Mossville is a small, predominantly African American unincorporated community on the outskirts of Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The community was founded in 1790 by a freed slave named Jim Moss, and is one of the first settlements of free blacks in the South. Today, Mossville isn’t a thriving community but one that is marred by chemical contamination and the building of a chemical plant may wipe out the whole town. Read more.

A janitor wanted for allegedly killing his wife and abducting an 8-year-old girl had contact with other girls at the Washington, D.C. homeless shelter where he worked, police said. Rudd’s mother said she trusted Tatum to be with her daughter. Other parents in the homeless shelter that formerly was D.C. General Hospital told the Washington Post that Tatum regularly gave $20 bills and other presents to girls living there. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said her department is investigating Tatum’s interactions with the other children and their families. Rules at the shelter forbid employees from fraternizing with the residents, the Post reports. Read more.

Shanesha Taylor was arrested Thursday in Scottsdale, Ariz., after police said she left the children, ages 2 and 6 months, alone in the car with the engine off and the windows slightly cracked, the Huffington Post reports. The car was reportedly left parked in the sun and all the doors were closed. Taylor’s arrest touched off a social media firestorm of controversy, with proponents arguing that the single mom made a mistake in an effort to make ends meet. But police called the incident abuse. Amanda Bishop, 24, however, was so moved by Taylor’s story that she created a fundraiser Friday at YouCaring. The effort had raised $51,968 by late Saturday. Read more.

A Delaware man convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter only faced probation after a state Superior Court judge ruled he “will not fare well” in prison. In her decision, Judge Jan Jurden suggested Robert H. Richards IV would benefit more from treatment. Richards, who was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009, is an unemployed heir living off his trust fund. The light sentence has only became public as the result of a subsequent lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, which charges that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently assaulted his son as well. Richards is the great grandson of du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont, a chemical baron. Read more.

The U.S. Department of Education has unveiled a new database that lets you look at racial disparities in advanced classes and in punishments like detention at America’s public schools. The data — which includes information about students’ race, sex, English language skills, and disabilities for the year 2011-2012 — is available in a public, searchable database for the very first time. This means you can look up data for your kids’ schools or your old high school, as the Southern Poverty Law Center points out. Read more.